Gunners fans needn't fear the worst, however, as Mannone has impressed this season and continues to stake a claim for the number one jersey. But how does he match up to his team-mates? We decided to use Opta Stats to take a look at how each 'keeper has fared during their time at Arsenal. Check out the statistics below to make your own mind up.

Over the past season Szczesny has established himself as the club's first-choice, making 38 league appearances last term, and a very credible 55 in total for Arsenal. Szczcesny's development as a goalkeeper over that period has been meteoric, and his minutes to goals conceded ratio is up there with the best in the Premier League for that period.

His conceding rate of over a goal a game has not been helped by some pretty big score-lines over the past year, and while it would be unfair to point to that as solely his fault, it does not make for encouraging Reading when compared to his team-mates.

Arsenal number two Lukasz Fabianski has surprised during his time between the sticks. While he is a very good deputy, he has been questionable at times when called upon by Arsene Wenger. His tendency to punch (27 times), rather than catch (22 times) fully justifies his nickname 'Flappyhandski', but his ten clean sheets in just 27 appearances is a very good return for a 'keeper who has not had a prolonged run in the team.

Vito Mannone has arguably the most impressive statistics out of the three goalkeepers. While it must be remembered that he has played only a fraction of the games of both Szczesny and Fabianski, his figures offer a lot of promise.

Mannone has shown himself as an adept shot-stopper this season, and his high amount of saves for just 11 games played (32 saves) is encouraging for Arsenal fans. Perhaps his most impressive stat though, is his minutes per goals conceded rate. Mannone has by far the best record here, conceding every 99 minutes.

While the jury may still be out on whether he is good enough to replace Szczesny, Gunners fans shouldn't worry too much that their first and second choice goalkeepers will be on the sidelines for a few more weeks.

Should Vito Mannone replace Wojciech Szczesny as Arsenal's number one goalkeeper? Let us know by commenting below...